


And Then There Were Four

by E_Salvatore



Series: Tagged: TBTP Tumblr Fics [15]
Category: The Black Tapes Podcast
Genre: Alex gets her very own Tall Paul, Gen, Tall Pauls for everyone!, Tumblr ficlet, and so does Strand!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 06:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6362869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/E_Salvatore/pseuds/E_Salvatore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Alex meets Richard Strand, there are two people in the room and four shadows on the wall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then There Were Four

“Alex?”

A familiar voice snaps her out of the trance-like state induced by hours of staring at a textbook and willing her mind to turn into a great big sponge. When she looks up, the librarian greets her with a kind (albeit tense) smile, one hand curled around the doorknob of the private study room Alex has been occupying for the last… four hours? A quick glance at her watch tells her she’s definitely overstayed her welcome.

“Hi, Lana. I’m sorry; I didn’t realize how long I’ve been here,” Alex quickly arranges her books into a neat stack and sweeps notes and pens into her bag. It’s finals week, and Lana has probably had to deal with entire study groups of disgruntled seniors insisting that they have more right to the room than a lone girl. “I’ll get out of your hair now. Thanks again for letting me-”

“It’s no trouble, Alex,” Lana insists. It’s impossible to miss the way her eyes dart from one darkened corner of the room to another right before she speaks again, lowering her tone into a confidential hush this time. “I don’t want you on your own right now. It’s here.”

It takes every single ounce of willpower in her body not to tense up or turn around, to show any sign of fear or take a closer look at the shadows dancing in the corners. She gathers her things and calmly walks out of the room, holding her breath until Lana shuts the door behind them.

“Thank you,” She whispers to the older woman as they head for the bright, crowded main area of the library. There is no escaping her second shadow, but the dozens of students with their frantic voices _(what do you mean we’ve got another four chapters to go?! WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE?!)_ and hysterical laughter _(oh, no, I’m totally fine. Totally fine. Not about to ruin my life or anything. Everything’s just fucking peachy right now!)_ dampen the effect of it all somehow, numb her to the horror that is her reality, that has been her reality since the day she was born.

“I’ve been thinking,” Lana tells her as they make their way to the front desk. “Something about your… situation sounded familiar, so I asked around a bit and-” She rounds the desk and slides back into her chair. “There was a student, a few years before I got here.”

“A student?” Alex echoes hesitantly, setting her books down on the counter. She adjusts the strap of her messenger bag and fusses with the stack of books to buy herself some time as she tries to wrap her mind around the implications of what Lana’s hinting at. 

There could be someone out there, someone just like her.

All her life she’s felt so lonely, even though she’s probably the one person on earth who’s never been alone. The idea of someone going through the same thing, someone living the same nightmare, someone who can understand and empathize and who could possibly – just possibly, just the slightest chance – tell her more about this or stick around when the lights start flickering, someone who would understand why she avoids cameras and still sleeps with a night light…

Lana hums in affirmation and straightens out her stack of books. “It’s been a while – maybe ten years or so, from what I’ve heard. But people don’t forget this kind of thing: two figures in a room with a single occupant, dark smudges that consistently show up in pictures, two shadows where there should be one. I mean, I guess I could be reaching but Alex, I really think-”

Alex believes in coincidences. She believes that two similar things aren’t necessarily related. She even believes in apophenia, an unfamiliar word scrawled into the margins of her second-hand psychology textbook.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a shadow slither closer. In the back of her mind, the darkest corner where _it_ has taken up residence and no night light can fend off the shadows, a voice hisses in anticipation.

_Finally…_

“Do you have a name?” She interrupts Lana mid-sentence.

The librarian blinks. Her lips stretch into an apologetic smile as she processes Alex’s question. “Half a name,” Lana tells her. “For some reason, he doesn’t show up on record. But I know for a fact that he was here.”

“First name or last?” She can work with either. This is what she does best – or at least, it’s what she’s _supposed_ to do best. Alex is a reporter; always has been at heart, and soon to be by trade. If there’s one thing she can do, it’s getting to the bottom of something.

“Last name,” Lana sighs. “Strand. That’s it.”

_Strand_ , twin voices echo in her mind, committing the name to memory for entirely different purposes.

Lana promises to do her best to get a first name before Alex leaves for Seattle, but graduation comes and goes and still there is only last name Strand, first name unknown.

Seattle is a fresh start, and Alex takes with her only three things from her past: Nic, the shadow and a last name.

 

 

 

The first time Alex meets Richard Strand, there are two people in the room and four shadows on the wall.

And a voice she hasn’t heard in more than a decade hisses in satisfaction.

_Finally._

**Author's Note:**

> [Here's a deleted scene.](http://esalvatore3.tumblr.com/post/141719991669/deleted-scene-from-ficlet-3)
> 
> [And here's a note on what a more fleshed-out version might've looked like.](http://eleanor-3.tumblr.com/post/141722906687/tbtp-ficlet-3-and-then-there-were-four)


End file.
